The present invention generally involves a field of technology pertaining to apparatus for cutting and dicing food products into discrete particles of predetermined shape and size. More particularly, the invention relates to a dicing machine having features to improve the squareness of cubed pieces cut from the food product.
Devices for cutting food products into smaller, discrete portions through a series of cutting operations are well-known in the art. Such machines are particularly suited for cutting food products into discrete pieces having substantially rectangular or cubical configurations. Generally, this is accomplished by conveying the food product over a slicing knife which severs a relatively thin slice of the food product, conveying the food product slice through a rotating bank of circular knives which cut the sliced food product into a plurality of elongated strips and thereafter directing these strips into a cross-cut knife assembly wherein a rotating bank of elongated knives cut the food product transversely into diced sections having either a rectangular or cubical configuration. The bank of circular knives may be associated with a stationary stripper plate having fingers extending between adjacent circular knives to prevent the food product from adhering to the circular knives as they rotate.
An important factor in a customer's selection of a cutting or dicing machine is the visual appearance of the cut food product produced by the machine. The squareness of the sides of the cubed material plays an important part in the overall appearance. Obtaining a square cut (one in which the sides of the cubed food product are perpendicular to adjacent sides, as well as to the top and bottom of the cube) using a circular shaped cross-cut spindle is difficult to achieve utilizing the known apparatus. Typically, such apparatus utilizes a rotating cross-cut spindle having a plurality of knives extending from a periphery of the spindle. As the spindle rotates, the knives sequentially contact and cut the moving food product, which may have been previously cut into a plurality of strips. The cross-cut knives transversely cut the product strips into a cubed food product.
In the prior machines, the position of the cross-cut spindle relative to a shear edge, which interacts with the cross-cut knives to cut the food product, is not easily adjustable. Thus, while the known machines may be set to provide a cubed food product having satisfactory squareness for a given thickness of the food product slice, any variation in this food product slice thickness will cause the cubed end product to be unacceptably out of "square". In order to achieve an optimum squareness of cut, the cross-cut knife must enter the top of the continuously moving food slice and progress through the food product at the proper speed and angle past the shear edge. The size and squareness of the cut by the cross-cut knives are determined by the diameter of the circular path traveled by the cutting edges of the cross-cut knives, the number of knives on the cross-cut spindle, the angular location of the cross-cut spindle center relative to the shear edge, and the timing relationship between the speed of the sliced food product and the rotational speed of the cross-cut spindle. The cross-cut knives must be able to make the cuts without impeding the movement of the sliced food product, or accelerating the food product slice which is typically traveling at the speed of the circular knives. Typically, the timing and the angular location of the cross-cut spindle are set to achieve the optimum squareness of cut for given thickness of sliced food product. As the thickness of the food product becomes thicker or thinner than that for which the machine is set, the slice squareness gets progressively worse. Due to these difficulties with known dicing apparatus, it can be seen that a need exists for a dicing machine having the ability to provide square cut cubed food products from food product slices having a variety of thicknesses.